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When I first heard about Malaysia in my much younger age, I knew was as a place that is equipped with spectacular Islands, beaches, some awesome dive sports, delicious food, irresistible shopping malls, decent culture, harmonious people and basically a land of variety and diversity. That’s when I added this heavenly destination to my To-Visit places in the world. Last year on my trip to South East Asia I decided to save two days for this fascinating country and to experience the fusion of what I have heard earlier. Although Penang supposes to be the best destination in Malaysia, I wanted some peaceful yet adventurous experience during the stay, so Langkawi was all I required to explore. I took a flight from Mumbai to Penang and then a ferry from Penang which landed me on Langkawi in less than 3 hours. I remember being pleasantly surprised upon reaching Langkawi that left me speechless and mesmerized.

In my two days of stay in Langkawi there is the lot of things I did, but what took place in my heart and mind was this super-awesome trip called “Untold Stories” by Dev’s Adventure Tours. Selva was our guide; he is a freelance Naturalist and Historian for more than 13 years. Dev’s adventure tours offer two types of mangrove tours, boat and kayak. I chose kayak as it allowed me to dwell totally in between mangrove forest. The tour starts in the afternoon and they have limited seats for each tour to avoid a mess, which was best. Kayak tour started at Kilim Jetty (boat dock) and from there, tourists are taken to Kilim Geo Park. As we headed towards Kilim River, our guide Selva asked us to flex our muscle to push our way all through mangroves. Immediately I knew this was going to be wonderful!

Being passionate about nature and environment, Selva kept the interest live among all kayakers. Kayak ride initially took me through the dense green mangroves on one side and huge attractive limestone rocks/caves on the other side. Every move of the ride I felt were a magical ecosystem of surprises and these veritable forest mazes waiting to be explored. Surreal and charming, just like wading in a new mystical world, I kept my eyes wide open. This is not the first time I was looking at mangroves, but this tour helped me to completely immerse into those striking forest. Although pathways here are quite wide to move, pushing through some of the tight corridors and going further can be thrilling.

Selva was very informative, he pointed out many interesting things about these trees. One thing I was surprised to know was that in 2004 Tsunami this place was less suffered because these mangrove trees have the power to absorb forceful waves! Next, he said seeds of mangrove trees are capable to float around 1 year before they drown giving many opportunities for the plant grow again. Selva shared many more such fascinating things about Langkawi and mangroves. On the way, we spotted many snakes, fiddler crabs, eagles (many hovering around sky), monitor lizards, bats, monkeys, wild dogs, marine birds, dolphins, otters and many other reef creatures.